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6.2 Million U.S. Women Obtained Contraceptive Services from Publicly Funded Clinics in 2015

New State and County-Level Maps Show Geographic Distribution of Clinics and Contraceptive Clients Served at Each Type of Clinic

Some 6.2 million women received publicly supported contraceptive services from 10,700 clinics in the United States in 2015, according to Publicly Funded Contraceptive Services at U.S. Clinics, 2015, new Guttmacher Institute research by Jennifer Frost and colleagues. This project includes a series of new interactive maps that allow users to navigate state- and county-level data, as well as a set of data tables with accompanying notes on sources and methodology. The researchers found that in 2015, clinics funded by the federal Title X program provided contraceptive services to a total of 3.8 million women. Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide provided contraceptive services to two million women, federally qualified health center sites (FQHCs) provided such services to 1.9 million women, and an estimated 2.4 million women received Medicaid-funded contraceptive services from private physicians.

The new map series showcases a number of data points for both 2010 and 2015:

The number of all clinics providing publicly funded contraceptive services in each county and state, and those clinics with Title X funding, both with break-downs for type of clinic.

The number of contraceptive clients served at all publicly funded clinics in each county and state, and at Title X–funded clinics, with proportions served by type of clinic.

County-level number of women in need of publicly funded contraceptive services per 100 square miles.

The authors collected data on publicly funded contraceptive services provided in 2015 by clinics in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They obtained data for Title X–funded clinics, FQHC sites and Indian Health Service sites from the federal entities that manage those programs. Data for other clinics were obtained from state agencies or directly from individual clinics. In addition, they used data from the National Survey of Family Growth to estimate the number of women who received Medicaid-funded contraceptive services from private physicians.

The types of clinics that provided publicly funded contraceptive services in 2015 included Planned Parenthood sites, which accounted for 6% of all family planning clinics and served 32% of all contraceptive clients; public health departments, which administered 21% of clinics and served 20% of clients; FQHCs, which administered 54% of clinics and served 30% of clients; hospital outpatient sites, which accounted for 8% of clinics and served 10% of clients; and other independent clinics, which represented 10% of total clinics and served 8% of clients. Data on the proportions of Title X–funded family planning clinics that fall into each of these categories, as well as the share of contraceptive clients served by each type of Title X–funded clinic, are also included.

In 2015, publicly funded contraceptive services helped women prevent 1.9 million unintended pregnancies; 876,100 of these would have resulted in unplanned births and 628,600 in abortions. Without these services, the rates of unintended pregnancy, unplanned birth and abortion in the United States would all have been 67% higher, and the corresponding rates for women aged 15–19 would have been 102% higher.

Contraceptive services provided by clinics that received Title X funding helped women avert 822,300 unintended pregnancies in 2015, preventing 387,200 unplanned births and 277,800 abortions. Without the services provided by Title X–funded clinics, the U.S. unintended pregnancy, unplanned birth and abortion rates would each have been 31% higher, and the rate for women aged 15–19 would have been 44% higher.

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